PM Modi takes ‘Jhalmuri’ break in Jhargram during packed Bengal campaign, pays out of pocket - Video

Amid high-octane campaigning for the West Bengal Assembly elections, scheduled to be held in two phases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took a brief pause from his packed schedule to enjoy “Jhalmuri”, a popular Indian street snack, at a small local shop.

The Prime Minister was also seen distributing the snack - a traditional puffed rice mixture - to locals gathered at the spot. People were heard chanting “Jai Shri Ram”, “Narendra Modi zindabad”, and “Bharat Mata ki jai”.

A video shows the Prime Minister, dressed in his signature attire - a white kurta, a dark blue pinstriped waistcoat, and a red scarf with a lotus symbol - asking the vendor to serve him the snack.

“Bhai hume apna Jhalmuri khila,” (Serve us with your Jhalmuri), Modi is heard saying in the clip. He then asked about the price, but the shopkeeper refused to take payment. Modi, however, paid him ₹10 for the snack even as the shopkeeper resisted.

The small shop, stocked with a variety of namkeen and mixture packets neatly stored in containers alongside the staple “muri” (puffed rice), saw an unexpected surge in visitors during the Prime Minister’s stopover.

Sharing glimpses of the moment on X, the Prime Minister wrote: “In between four rallies across West Bengal on a packed Sunday, had some delicious Jhalmuri in Jhargram.”

The Prime Minister also criticised the party over the issue of women’s reservation.

He said, “The anti-women TMC must now be ousted from power. The sisters of Bengal must get their rights, security, and opportunities for earning, and this is the BJP's priority.”

He further alleged that while the BJP worked to ensure women benefit from reservation provisions from 2029, the TMC opposed the move in Parliament.

“The BJP tried to ensure that women start benefiting from reservations from 2029. But the mahila virodhi (anti-women) TMC opposed it in Parliament. The TMC resorted to every kind of deceit and trickery so that Bengal's 33 per cent women could not become MLAs and MPs. Now, Bengal's women must punish the TMC for this sin,” the Prime Minister said.

He also cautioned women voters in the state about what he described as the party’s failures.

“We want to caution the sisters of Bengal about the misdeeds of the TMC. The TMC came to power talking about 'Ma, Mati, Manush' but the TMC has betrayed the mothers. In the recent past, you also saw in Parliament that the BJP tried to ensure that reservation for women in elections starting from 2029 begins, but the anti-women TMC opposed it in Parliament,” he said.